San Francisco bans face surveillance
15 May 2019 17:06 GMT

San Francisco has become the first US city to ban the use of facial recognition technology by police and other government agencies.

A measure passed in an 8-1 vote by San Francisco’s board of supervisor that passed on Tuesday, has two main dimensions.

First, it bans the city government’s use of face recognition. Next, the bill implements strict oversight for all surveillance tools used by the city. It requires public notice and legislative approval for the purchase of new surveillance tools and audits on existing surveillance tech—like license place readers—used by the city.

"Facial recognition is biased against people of color and it's often inaccurate," Matt Cagle, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, claimed in an interview with "CBS Evening News" recently.

The privacy group ACLU has previously pointed to its test of Amazon's facial recognition program as proof after scanning images of members of Congress and comparing them to archived arrest photos.